The Great Plains

by Nicole Alexander

  Abelena could feel the anger in the air. It fizzed and popped as if it had been boxed up and stored in darkness for many years. The grievances the men yelled about were ages old, a decade old, a generation old. Each man called the other a liar, each man held a rifle. She wondered how it was possible that three Americans, Okies no less, could be fighting on the other side of the world. As the four men continued to quarrel, Abelena seized the opportunity to escape. She draped Flossy’s arm across her shoulders and together they walked away from the river and into the timber. She turned once when a gunshot echoed. Wes Kirkland let out a howl and crumpled to the ground. The man called Hocking lowered his rifle.

  ‘I don’t know if there are any blacks around to help you, Wes.’ Hocking’s voice echoed along the river. He sounded faintly amused.

  There was a whoosh of air overhead and the wedge-tail eagle, the baby between its talons, flew off into the night.

  ‘Are we going home?’ Flossy’s breath was laboured.

  ‘Soon,’ Abelena replied.

  They trudged through the timber as the voices on the riverbank continued their condemnatory yells. Gradually the quarrelling grew fainter but Abelena knew that it would not be long before Tobias came after her. Had she been alone she could easily have avoided him. She knew this area well, but Will’s mother was weak. With every step she leant a little more on Abelena’s shoulders and although they made reasonable progress, soon they would have to rest.

  Chapter 59

  September, 1935 – on the bank of the Condamine River, Southern Queensland

  Tobias backed up slowly until he stood next to Wes. ‘You know I can’t walk away from this,’ he told the two men opposite, ‘no matter what Wes has done. I’ve caught you both red-handed and you’ve admitted to your crime.’

  Evan held his rifle low and tight against his ribs. ‘What are you going to do, Mr Wade, try and shoot us both?’ His finger was firm on the trigger. ‘Your mate there is looking fairly crook and I don’t know how good an aim you are but Hocking and I are crack shots.’

  Wes was sitting upright, but he was a sorry sight. He’d ripped the sleeve from his shirt and tried his best to bandage the leg wound, but the man had so much blood on him that it was difficult to decipher where one injury began and the other ended.

  ‘Maybe he’s thinking of arresting us,’ Hocking contemplated. ‘If that’s the case you should have stayed hidden over yonder behind those trees. Wes knows the rule. We might not be in Oklahoma but none of us are the gaoling kind.’

  ‘Is that what you want, Hocking?’ Tobias queried. ‘A final shoot-out?’

  ‘Not to your liking, Mr Wade? No doubt you’d prefer to sit down with a rum and talk things through.’

  ‘There’s not much to talk about,’ Tobias said plainly, ‘but I admit that I just don’t understand your hatred, Hocking.’

  ‘Of course you don’t,’ Hocking replied. ‘Them that have money and think that they’re better than others can’t imagine what it means to lose everything.’

  ‘As for me,’ Evan piped up, ‘I just like coin.’

  ‘Shoot the bastards, the both of them, the lousy rustlers,’ Wes called out.

  Tobias quietened him with his hand.

  ‘Must be confusing,’ Hocking drawled, ‘knowing what the right thing is but figuring you’ll have to do wrong anyway.’ He lifted his rifle and pulled the trigger.

  Wes shot both men in the chest before Tobias had let off the first round. They dropped to the ground, dead.

  ‘Jesus!’ Tobias kicked the lifeless bodies. ‘I knew you were good … and you’ve only got one eye!’

  ‘Well, I had a couple of real good teachers and, if the truth be told,’ Wes croaked, ‘I was aiming for their heads.’

  Tobias dragged each man to the river’s edge and dumped them in the water. The current eddied and pushed at their bodies and slowly the two men began to drift away.

  ‘Fish fodder, that’s all those two were ever good for,’ Wes declared.

  Tobias turned towards the trees that edged the river.

  ‘You’re going after her?’ Wes asked.

  ‘I better get you back home first.’

  ‘I’m okay.’ Wes probed the leg wound. ‘It went straight through. Anyway, we both know that if you don’t hightail it Abelena will have disappeared. It takes someone like me to track a girl like that and I won’t be chasing any Injuns for a day or so.’

  Tobias knelt beside him. ‘I don’t want to leave you, old friend.’

  Wes grimaced as a wave of pain speared down his leg. ‘Sure you do, Tobias. Sure you do.’

  Tobias fetched Wes’s horse and, with difficulty, heaved the older man onto the saddle.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ Wes stated through gritted teeth.

  ‘Just head toward the homestead. I’ll come back for you,’ Tobias promised. ‘As soon as I’ve found her, I’ll come back.’ He mounted his own horse, twitched the reins. Marigold snorted disinterestedly. ‘You saved my life. If you hadn’t have been here –’

  ‘Forget it.’

  ‘You deserve Condamine Station, Wes. You’re the son my father never had.’ He rode into the trees.

  Wes sat there for some minutes, listening to the night sounds of the bush, his good eye glassy with pride, then he fell from his horse.

  Marcus and Will lifted the second ewe and, slinging the animal across Margery’s rump, tied the sheep down firmly. They’d only managed to find two killers when they’d heard the unmistakable bleating of a mob of sheep. Perch had taken off in the direction of the noise and they’d been considering following him and nabbing another woolly but then a number of rifle shots had echoed down the river and Marcus thought it safer to head home. Father and son saddled up and Will whistled softly to his dog.

  ‘Don’t worry about the mutt,’ his father said sternly, ‘he’ll follow. Best we get home. Skin and gut these two then we can head into the village.’

  ‘What about those rifle shots?’ Will asked nervously.

  ‘They could have come from any direction.’ Marcus sniffed the air. ‘On a night like this when there’s no wind and scant moonlight, sound can travel for miles. You know that.’

  ‘We shouldn’t have left Abelena and Mum alone.’

  ‘I never took you for a nervous Nellie. You’ve been hanging around with too many wild-eyed boundary riders and black stockmen. Jump at the smallest thing, their kind do.’ Marcus led them through the trees. ‘We’ll head down towards the river, it will be easier going.’

  Across the water came the faint sound of a stockwhip. ‘I reckon someone’s lifting a mob of sheep,’ Will decided.

  ‘Well, if they are, it’s best we get a move on.’

  Once they were clear of the trees and the fallen timber, they walked their horses down the riverbank and turned left at the water’s edge. Will tailed his father. Margery kept at a fast trot.

  ‘Beaut night to be out,’ Marcus called softly back to his son. ‘Never have been one to be indoors early in the evening. Of course the womenfolk hate it; Abelena will be the same. Your mother always liked to have everyone tucked up for the night like fowls in a coop. Now that Abelena’s with us I’ll be thinking she’ll get your mother up and out of that blasted room. A woman’s touch, that’s what Floss needs. Someone to get her mind off herself and of course it will be good to have a decent cook around. Let me tell you, son, I’m no hand in the kitchen. I can’t even manage Johnny cakes.’

  ‘Dad, we can’t stay. Abelena’s run away from Mr Wade.’

  ‘Rubbish. We’ll go and see the copper and you can tell Constable Maine the story. He’s not a bad cove. He’ll lend you an ear.’

  ‘But she’s younger than me and Mr Wade –’

  ‘Made his money out of papers and slaves and bossing people around? Yeah, I’ve heard the stories but this is Australia, Will. We have laws, people have rights. They’ll be some way we can get around things so that Abelena can stay with us.’

  ‘You’d have to stop steal
ing, Dad.’

  ‘Let’s cross one bridge at a time. God’s trousers, what’s this?’ Marcus saw the body in the gloom and rode towards it. ‘Best you stay back, son,’ he warned. He jumped from his horse and unholstered his rifle. ‘Shush, Margery, there’s a good girl.’ He cocked the gun, dropped to one knee and surveyed the land and water encircling them.

  ‘We’re not far from home, Dad.’

  Marcus waved his son to silence. After he was satisfied that they were alone apart from the figure in the dirt, he walked to the water. ‘Blood leading to the river and drag marks. I don’t like it. Get over here.’

  Will obeyed, trotting his horse quietly onwards and then once dismounted tied the reins to Margery. ‘He looks like he’s been attacked by an animal or something, Dad.’

  Marcus gently turned the man’s head. Where an eye should have been only a bloody socket remained. ‘It’s the bloke from Condamine Station. It’s Wes Kirkland.’

  ‘It can’t be! Out here?’

  ‘Look at that eye.’ Marcus examined the body. ‘By the looks of it he’s been shot too.’ He lifted the edge of the ragged bandage on the man’s leg. ‘It’s bad.’

  ‘I bet he was looking for Abelena. It’s not the first time he’s chased her down.’

  ‘Are you telling me that slip of thing shot him?’

  Will hesitated. ‘No. At least she didn’t have a rifle.’

  ‘Well, someone did.’

  ‘So where are they now, Dad?’

  ‘Buggered if I know.’

  ‘Is he alive?’

  Marcus held a palm against the injured man’s mouth. ‘Yep.’

  ‘Well, we can’t leave him here.’

  Marcus looked from the man to the sheep. ‘Damn and blast. All right, we’ll strap him to Margery. I’ll take him home and tend to his wounds, you get your sheep gutted and delivered.’

  ‘Heck, I want to stay with you!’

  ‘And what do you think your mother’s going to eat tomorrow? Air? No. One sheep is better than none.’ Marcus cut his ewe from Margery’s back and dragged the animal into the scrub, then with Will’s help they lifted Wes Kirkland and slung him across the saddle. ‘Once I’ve cleaned him up I’ll ride into the village and find the doctor.’

  ‘You better hide that block and tackle when you get home, Dad.’

  The man whimpered.

  ‘He’s awake,’ Marcus announced. ‘What happened? Who did this to you?’

  ‘Tobias, help Tobias,’ Wes moaned.

  Marcus gave the man a sip of water. ‘Why, is he hurt too?’

  ‘No, he’s gone looking for Abelena.’

  Marcus shook his head. ‘But how can that be? We left the girl with Floss.’

  Will looked at his father.

  ‘Don’t, son, don’t do it. There will be time enough tomorrow to track her down. Hell, we’ll ride right up to that fancy homestead if you want to. But first I have to get Kirkland home and check on your mother and you have to deliver that sheep.’

  ‘I have to find her, Dad.’

  ‘Will, listen to me.’

  ‘If it was Mum and you knew she was with someone who treated her badly, you wouldn’t hesitate.’ Will mounted his horse. ‘I have to do this. I’ll dump my sheep in the timber.’

  ‘Go then,’ his father replied half-heartedly. Marcus waited until Will had left and then he walked into the scrub and dragged the hidden ewe across to Margery. ‘It’s going to be a long night, girl.’ Hefting the sheep onto the horse’s back, he tied the animal down and began to lead his ride home. ‘Please God,’ Marcus whispered, ‘don’t let Kirkland wake up and look into the eyes of his dead sheep. That wouldn’t be good.’

  Chapter 60

  September, 1935 – on the plains of Condamine Station,

  Southern Queensland

  Flossy fell asleep in the crook of Abelena’s arm as soon as they stopped to rest. It was cool beneath the spreading tree. The ground was soft and powdery and Abelena stretched out her legs so that her bare skin pressed into the earth. She thought if they both stayed in this position for long enough that they too would take root. Their limbs would merge and entwine with the woody plant and they would be anchored in one place at last. Two women, once lost, found and nurtured by nature. From where they sat, the wide girth of the tree protected them from the chaos by the river. Before them extended the open plains. Cloaked in darkness, the vastness of the land before them was like a living being. Abelena could feel its energy. It was towards this mass of drying grasses and big sky that she had headed when she should have taken Flossy straight home, or at the very least headed in the direction of the Todd farm. Something had stopped her. Made her alter her plan. And now here she was, waiting. Waiting as she had done all those months ago at the rear of the stationmaster’s house in Broken Arrow, when exhaustion claimed her and a sixth sense said that it was time to stop running.

  ‘Abelena?’

  She pressed the back of her skull against the knobbly bark of the tree and extricated herself from the sleeping Flossy. Would she never be free of Tobias Wade?

  ‘You should not have followed me,’ Abelena answered as she rose to face him.

  Tobias dismounted and left his horse to forage. ‘For pity’s sake, girl, let me help you.’

  ‘Why do you keep doing this, Tobias? I don’t want your help. I never asked you for help.’

  ‘Look at you.’ He gestured to Mrs Todd. ‘At least do it for her sake, Abelena.’

  ‘Take Flossy then. Will’s mother is ill and needs to go back to their home. Do you know where the Todd farm is?’

  ‘Is she? Does she have …?’

  Abelena guessed that Tobias had heard the truth of Flossy’s madness. ‘She is quite well now.’

  Tobias didn’t believe her. ‘I won’t leave you out here alone.’

  Abelena patted the snuffling horse as together she and Tobias helped Flossy to sit astride the animal. ‘You must forget me, Tobias.’

  ‘I can’t. I care for you.’ His hand touched her cheek. She didn’t flinch. ‘I can’t explain it, maybe it’s a curse, Abelena, for my grandfather and father both loved Philomena, and now I –’

  Abelena quietened him with a finger to her lips. ‘It must end with us, Tobias, all of it must end with us. It can never be how you want it to be. You must understand that I don’t love you.’

  ‘Then we will be friends first.’

  ‘Have the white man and the Indian ever been able to keep a pact?’

  ‘Perhaps we need to sit around a fire and smoke on it?’ Tobias waited for a response that did not come. ‘Love will come with time, Abelena. Now get on the horse with Flossy.’

  ‘Stop it, Tobias. Are you even listening to yourself? Listen to me. I can never love you. You’ve taken everything from me. My family, my country. And what you haven’t had a hand in destroying, your father has.’

  Tobias grabbed her wrist roughly. ‘Your hate is so great you haven’t even allowed the possibility of liking me? The past is not my fault. I am not my grandfather or my father.’

  Abelena tried to pull away. ‘Aren’t you?’

  ‘Now you are being childish.’

  ‘All I see is a man stamping his foot because he can’t have what he wants.’

  The slap to Abelena’s face was hard and sharp. ‘Grow up, Abelena, you are on the other side of the world. You have no-one else. There is only me so you better get used to it.’

  ‘Abelena?’ Flossy called meekly.

  ‘You’re wrong. I have friends.’ Abelena’s free hand slipped to the knife at her waist.

  ‘Who, the dairy boy?’ Tobias tightened his grip on her wrist. ‘I’ve tried being nice to you, I’ve tried –’

  She grasped the knife-handle and slowly lifted her arm as Tobias drew her roughly to him.

  Abelena placed the knife against his throat, and pushed the blade into his flesh until an indentation formed. A vision came of a thin red line, of gushing blood and of a sister’s final retribution. She felt
them all there, watching her and waiting; her mother, the twins, Uncle George, little Tess and Jerome – all the members of her family who had been taken from her. Abelena’s hate was so great that she knew that she would kill this man to end it all. She would kill Tobias Wade and leave him to the night.

  Tobias twisted her wrist, grabbed the knife and slapped her once across the face. Then she was falling, her cheek landing heavily on the ground. She tasted blood.

  ‘Hey, leave her alone!’

  There were scuffling noises, a series of whacks. Someone else was with them and the two men were fighting, fighting over her. They fell to the ground and tumbled between the trees.

  The battle was short. The victor stood slowly.

  ‘Will?’ Abelena got to her feet. ‘Will?’

  The boy lifted his hand and dropped a knife. ‘We’ve got to get some help.’ Will whistled for his horse.

  ‘Is he dead?’

  ‘I hope not, otherwise I’ve done murder.’

  Abelena walked to where Tobias was sprawled on the ground. ‘He’s alive.’ She got on all fours and searched the ground for the knife.

  ‘What the heck are you doing?’ Will queried, as he led his horse forward. ‘We’ve got to get some help. That’s Tobias Wade I’ve just stabbed.’ The air grew thin with cold.

  ‘You go. Take your mother.’ Finding the kitchen knife, Abelena wiped the blade on her skirt.

  Will glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting something to appear from out of the depths of the scrub. His skin was prickling with fear. Something didn’t feel right. It was as if the bush was suddenly a stranger to him, alive with the unknown. ‘I can’t leave you or him. He might bleed to death.’

  Abelena crouched on the ground beside Tobias. She held the knife at his scalp line and, letting out a guttural cry, pressed down drawing blood.

  ‘What the heck are you doing, Abelena?’

  A large eagle swooped towards them, landing some feet away.

  ‘God’s holy trousers. Come away, Abelena. Come away now.’